What are your favourite research articles that show positive results from homeschooling? Could you post any links? Preferably articles that are more research-based and less anecdotal. I would be especially interested in articles regarding success with ADHD kids, or anxiety or learning disabilities. Without getting into an argument with anyone here, I would just love to have some specific articles to discuss with official people who might be willing to listen to reason but are not used to seeing homeschooling much in our rural area.

As I homechooler, I have hired several therapists and tutors with more training and experience than a public classroom could ever provide.

And for every homeschooler out there like Heather, who kicks butt and hires people and makes it happen, there are 4 more that are the sad stories, where people didn't get intervention, waited, didn't have the money for the $$$ services but wouldn't enroll them, on and on.

There are studies (old now) by Brian Ray I think showing just a homogenous, across the board success with homeschooling. But once you say FASD, ASD, significant SLDs, etc., I think you're going to have a hard time finding data. There's too much variation there to make meaningful data. Budgets vary and what people can make happen vary. Unfortunately, with some of these harder things, love doesn't cover it. There's a lot that love and hugs and tomato staking solves, but some things take $$$ for therapies, materials, etc.

During the last NP testing, the NP knew I had hired people and that DS was doing well based on standardized scores, but she still fundamentally disagrees with homeschooling. I don't think these people want their minds changed.

Eta: Some conditions are chronic and persist with the best help available.

This is not an argument, but I just don't know of any such data (nor the reverse either).

If it is likely to be known of anywhere, I think you should contact HSLDA, since they help people who are having legal challenges to homeschooling, and could have such a thing if it exists as a way to back up their own work.

I think a reason that there is a lack of peer reviewed research out there in the journals is that it would be extremely difficult to conduct any kind of valid study on such a heterogeneous group as homeschooled students. At least when they conduct studies regarding public school students they can eliminate some variables because they can just study students from schools using a particular curriculum and protocols, but the range in how people educate their children at home and what their days are like etc. is just really huge. I mean there are unschoolers and people who follow the classical model strictly, and there are just so many variables that it would be difficult to determine which variable was related to the differences between the students. There may be informal studies people have done like the one linked to above for a Master's thesis, but I think it may be pretty tough to find anything in a peer reviewed journal which is really what I think you are looking for.

I think a reason that there is a lack of peer reviewed research out there in the journals is that it would be extremely difficult to conduct any kind of valid study on such a heterogeneous group as homeschooled students. At least when they conduct studies regarding public school students they can eliminate some variables because they can just study students from schools using a particular curriculum and protocols, but the range in how people educate their children at home and what their days are like etc. is just really huge. I mean there are unschoolers and people who follow the classical model strictly, and there are just so many variables that it would be difficult to determine which variable was related to the differences between the students. There may be informal studies people have done like the one linked to above for a Master's thesis, but I think it may be pretty tough to find anything in a peer reviewed journal which is really what I think you are looking for.

I think you are right that it would be very difficult. Though not necessarily impossible.

But also, where would funding come from for such a thing?

It's not just that different homeschoolers are so different, but also that you can't very well randomly assign students to be homeschooled or to go to public school, since the type of parent who would homeschool is not random.

The link I put above is not to "research" per se, but seems to be a review of what the author could find at the time of writing. It references some sources that are supposed to be research and has a bibliography / reference section (quite short, suggesting the dearth of info out there) that could provide further leads. Most of focus seems to be USA, but one reference is to a Canadian something. One, not surprisingly, is to a HSLDA conducted research , which I don't expect to be unbiased. The whole thing, generally, could still help OP in trying to come up with arguments. (along the lines of these types of groups of homeschoolers were found to do better than or equal to public schoolers in academic, emotional, and social areas.) Some things may have newer info.

The overall finding was that except for homeschoolers who left PS because of parental anger, the other groups, diverse though they might be who were contemplated did equal or better to public schoolers, and the more years in home school the better, at least for academics. Learning Disability was not a specific group where research was found. But it might more generally fit the category of where the parents withdrew dc from PS due to problems with PS for the child--which was a group that did better homeschooling. Apparently. Low income, which could fit OP's ds (?), did better than middle income when homeschooling, in one study cited in the paper.

To put it differently, as long as OP can show she is not part of the "angry parent" group and is acting for the best interests of the child to the best of her ability, there does not appear to be any study that shows that public schoolers do better on average than home schoolers. And several, not peer reviewed and flawed though they may be, that show Home school to be equal or better.

To put it differently, as long as OP can show she is not part of the "angry parent" group and is acting for the best interests of the child to the best of her ability, there does not appear to be any study that shows that public schoolers do better on average than home schoolers. And several, not peer reviewed and flawed though they may be, that show Home school to be equal or better.

I totally agree I think anything that can show anything positive will help her/OP. I just wanted to point out some reasons that I think there is so little out there on the topic at all. It would really be nice for the many home educators who for one reason or another want or need to justify their choice, to have some solid evidence that we could just refer to and end the whole thing. I'm fortunate in that I haven't been put in a position by anyone to have to justify my choice, but I think I'm in the minority. I hear all the time of family or friends of home educators who don't support them. I'm sure it's frustrating. Maybe we all need to get together and design and fund our own study lol .